by S. E. Weir
“I know.”
“But what can we do? It’s too late to reverse the process. Perhaps when it first started it could have gone back to normal, but from what you said, it’s spread across the planet.” His anguished expression changed to consideration. “The amount of energy the device contains…” He looked at the device and then the energy field surrounding them. “It’s incalculable.”
Phina eyed the Aurian warily, not comfortable with what she saw on his face. As she watched him, she pinged Stark on her tablet. “Stark, have you been following the conversation?”
“Yes indeed, Genius Girl.”
“What are your thoughts on how we should handle the device? I’m guessing merely turning it off would cause problems.”
The Aurian squawked in dismay as Stark gave a choking cough. “Problems. Yes. An explosion similar to a star going supernova would definitely be a problem.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Etheric Empire, Planet Lyriem
Phina paced on a small strip of cave floor that didn’t possess a tree or machine. She had been brainstorming ideas about what to do with the device for the past hour with Link, Stark, Maxim, ADAM, and Braeden. ADAM had relayed communication between their group and a group on the Meredith Reynolds that consisted of Bethany Anne, General Lance Reynolds, and Dan Bosse, the General’s right-hand man. Drk-vaen, Sis’tael, and He-Who-Thinks were either exploring or just trying to stay out of her way.
>>Bethany Anne says the Aurians have been failed badly enough already. She wants to know what it would take for us to save the planet. Is it possible?<< ADAM relayed.
“Wouldn’t it be better to leave this place to its destruction and find a new spot for the Aurians to colonize? We need to get our people out of there.” Link sounded irritated and anxious.
Phina shook her head. “We can’t. I’ve been looking at the coding and there are a few options, but most of them aren’t good. We don’t want to reverse the process since releasing the massive amount of energy contained in this field would cause an explosion that would destroy the planet as well as a good portion of this star system. However, something our Aurian friend here didn’t realize is that there’s a code at the end that will be triggered when the device has consumed all the energy of the planet. It doesn’t make sense. My grasp of astrophysics could be better, but it looks like it will open either a black hole or a portal. From my calculations, it will reach that threshold in the next two weeks.”
Link sighed. “You’re right. Neither of those options sounds good.”
“Are you kidding? They’re horrible.” Maxim was appalled.
She brought up the coding to scan it again. “I believe we can halt the process and put it into stasis without much trouble. I just want our digital friends to look it over to make sure my calculations and coding are accurate.”
“I’ll cautiously agree to that option.” Link responded. “It looks like our best bet.”
From ADAM came, “Agreed.”
Braeden spoke up. “What will you do with this device once it is halted? I do not think it should just sit in the cavern.”
“I’ve been thinking about that while you have been arguing about this.” Phina expertly turned on her heel as she talked. “We have down here a large amount of what basically works out to be energy, correct? Energy that contains the essence of the life of the planet. Since we have it, we might as well use it to do some good instead of sitting around to potentially cause trouble later. What we need is a mechanism to spread that energy and infuse it back into the planet. We can use it to re-terraform the land.”
“That sounds plausible.” Link spoke slowly enough that Phina knew he was checking his tablet to see if it actually was.
“ADAM, don’t we have a terraforming device we’ve used to repopulate a few planets?”
“We have, Phina, but without seeing the device there, I am uncertain if we can feasibly connect the two.” ADAM sounded slightly stressed to Phina’s ears. What would cause him to be so stressed that it affected his voice? The mind boggled, considering how stoic the AI always seemed.
“Well, hold on a minute while I do this…and this…” Phina paused to capture an image of the device and the energy field beyond it with the camera on her tablet, then walked closer to view the controlling mechanisms and the components. After making sure the pictures showed the proper views, she sent them to ADAM.
Moments later, ADAM responded, “From what I can see, it’s possible, but it would require an additional device or mechanism to connect the two since they use different systems.”
Phina nodded and resumed pacing, her solution at hand. “Braeden, the Gleeks appear to have a way to connect nature and natural energy with machines that I don’t believe we have in the rest of the Empire. Is this something the Gleeks could help us with?”
Braeden’s mental voice was comforting. Only one of our people has that knowledge, but I believe we can accomplish this task. However, the method used would only be shown to one person outside of our brothers, and the one chosen cannot speak or share the specifics of what they learn with anyone. It is the only way my brothers would agree to it.
Link sounded like he might protest, but ADAM cut in. “Bethany Anne thanks you, Braeden, and sends best wishes for the project going well.”
Although he did not say anything, Phina could picture Braeden’s head nodding in agreement during the pause that followed.
“So…” Link’s voice sounded eager. “We came and found the planet and its people, we discovered the problem, located the source, and we now have a plan to resolve the issue. I believe it is time to return home to the MR. The Aurians can stay in guest housing there while we wait for the terraforming process to play out.”
Phina stopped pacing and turned, her eyes catching those of He-Who-Thinks, who sat out of her way across the small clearing. Holding the eye contact, Phina swallowed before asking, “And He-Who-Thinks? Is he coming with us?”
There was silence for several moments before Link responded, “She-Who-Mourns just weighed in, and she’s right. He made a grievous error, but we can’t compound it by leaving him alone again or abandoning him to die. Bring him with you.”
Phina nodded as He-Who-Thinks watched her anxiously. Taking the Aurian with them was the right thing to do.
Etheric Empire, Planet Lyriem
Phina stumbled but continued to put one foot in front of the other. They had put the machine into the holding pattern so energy would no longer be drawn into it and the life-suffused area surrounding it. They had also agreed to send a group of Marines and Guardians to make sure no one messed with the device before it could be used. Since the device wasn’t taking in energy, it was safe for them to remain nearby.
Once they’d tested the system to make sure there wouldn’t be a problem, they decided to leave. However, since they had left the barrier containing the energy, Phina had become more exhausted with every step she took.
“Phina? You all right?”
Phina blinked slowly and didn’t answer the female voice. Rather, she tried to answer, but the words didn’t make it from her brain to her vocal cords. It took too much effort when all the energy she had was put into taking one more step. Then one more. Where was she going again?
“We are almost to the ship, Phina. Just hang on. Stark, can you hear me?”
Right. The ship.
“Of course, Drk-vaen. I’m not hard of hearing.”
“Can you ask the doctor to get ready? I think that thing you all were afraid would happen is happening.”
Words, words, words. Why did they have to use so many words? And why were they talking about her and not to her? She was right here. One more step.
“You mean where GG’s body is shutting down and she’s going to die?”
That sounded bad. She wasn’t going to die. She was going to make it to the ship. She shuffled her foot forward one more step.
“Yeah, that one.” The voice didn’t sound happy about it.
&nbs
p; The other voice came back subdued and quieter, though it was no less urgent. “Doc says to double-time it. You are sixty-seven meters from the Pod. Get her here as fast as you can.”
One more... The world blurred and swirled as she was picked up and the person began running, jostling her with the hurried pace over the uneven ground.
“Hold on, Phina!” the female voice called from her feet side. Foot side? Foot slide. Pool slide. Words were funny. She would have laughed at the thoughts in her head, but it was too much effort. Hold on? Hold onto what? “Just stay alive!”
Stay alive? She could do that. Phina was all over that. She just needed some sleep first. The voice faded, and she fell unconscious.
Etheric Empire, QBS Stark
Link paced the corridor, his coat swinging as he turned. His brown-and-gray-streaked hair was in tufts since he had been tugging on it for the past few hours. His shirt and pants were rumpled, having been worn for too long. The lines on his face appeared more prominent while his anxious eyes darted to a door down the corridor every few seconds. Beeping alarms kept being set off since Phina’s vitals continued to spike and then crash. The stasis in the Pod-doc was the only thing keeping her alive.
Finally, Link lifted his hands to his hair, tugging and growling, “Stark, can’t you go any faster?”
“Just as I told you the last twenty-seven times you asked, no. I am going the fastest that can be flown for everyone’s safety. We have cut off a full twelve hours. We will be there by this time tomorrow.”
Link turned to view the door, the shadows in his eyes deepening. He couldn’t get out of his mind the sight of Phina’s limp body carried by Drk-vaen. Sis’tael had been next to him, holding the almost forgotten He-Who-Thinks in her arms. The Aurian was loudly complaining that his position was undignified.
No one cared. All eyes were on the unconscious Phina. So much bravery and determination in one body that was failing. The doctor had said she might have died if they hadn’t had a Pod-doc on board. He felt bleak at the thought that she might not make it and shook his head. “That may not be in time.”
Stark remained silent for several moments, then briskly dropped his words over the ship-wide intercom. “Everyone has two minutes to use the facilities or grab what they need. Then buckle up, buttercups, and strap in. We are going home the fast and dangerous way. If we all don’t die, we’ll make it back in four hours.”
Link closed his eyes, then opened them and ran, calling, “Thank you, Stark!”
“Don’t thank me yet. We really could die. It’s a good thing the Aurians left since they wouldn’t have had reliable harnesses.”
Link nodded as he reached the control room and his assigned seat. The team from the Empire had finished transferring the Aurians to the other ships while they waited for the group to return from their exploration. The doctor had been checking on the Aurians’ health, and Alina had been sorting and passing out clothing, making adjustments on the fly.
Everyone had hurried back to Stark when they heard their friends were on the way and Phina was struggling. Shortly after they returned, Phina’s body had crashed in a delayed reaction to her recent activity. Braeden theorized the energy from the machine in the cave had supplied what she needed, so the stores in her body weren’t depleted. Once she had left the machine’s sphere of influence, that store of energy had quickly been burned through, the toll on her body progressing too rapidly. She had come to with help and then gone into full-body muscle spasms and cramps, screaming in agony.
She had been taken into the medical chamber on the ship, Doctor April coming on board just in time. She had assured Link that Phina wouldn’t feel much once she was sedated and placed in stasis in the Pod-doc, but clearly, pain wasn’t the only concern since those damned alarms kept going off.
He scowled, hearing them again while he buckled himself in. He had hoped that whatever needed to be fixed could be done in the Pod-doc on the ship, but after some badgering, ADAM had finally told him that with how screwed up Phina’s nanocytes were, only Bethany Anne’s personal Pod-doc was capable of fixing them.
Regardless, Phina lay close to death due to one person. Link wouldn’t rest until that person paid for their crime.
Etheric Empire, QBBS Meredith Reynolds, Receiving Hall
“Have you heard from Greyson about Phina?”
Anna Elizabeth strode down the corridor. She was wearing a ball gown, the royal blue at the shoulders fading to blue-gray at the hem of the wide skirt. Blue embroidered vines extended from the sweetheart collar and small off-the-shoulder sleeves toward the bottom, while icy lace extended up from the hem. Anna’s face shimmered as she moved under the lights, with black, white, and hints of blue on her eyelids. The effect gave her an ice queen look that her silvered blonde hair accentuated, particularly with it held up by jeweled combs.
Jace turned toward her in his dashing black-tie ensemble. His face changed from slightly flirty as he spoke to a fellow student to all business as he responded to Anna Elizabeth, nodding. “Yes, still the same.” The student rolled her eyes at the change and walked into the receiving hall. Jace didn’t give her a glance.
The group had been back for a week. Phina was stable, but TOM, ADAM, and Doctor Keelson were analyzing her system to determine the best way to adjust her body to either adapt to or reject the changes. However, the most troubling thing to Anna’s mind was that Phina had yet to wake up from the coma she had fallen into shortly before arriving on the Meredith Reynolds.
As Anna passed her mentee, she paused, her skirts swishing from the sudden stop. She gazed at him in concern. “Are you all right, Jace?”
Surprised into halting as well, he turned thoughtful. “I’m concerned, of course. Phina and I had just come to terms with being friends. I hope she pulls through this soon.”
“She has been through a lot.” Anna nodded in understanding. Her and Greyson’s friendship had started similarly. Speaking of… “Did Greyson mention if he would come to the event?”
Jace shook his head, which made Anna frown thoughtfully. She knew Greyson had hoped to make contact with a few people, and it had sounded urgent at the time. To have him forgo that opportunity… Well, it caught her attention.
Anna pulled herself out of her reflections to give Jace a faint smile. “Is everything handled? Barnabas has finished his scans of the senior diplomats?”
Jace nodded, his eyes showing satisfaction. “Yes, everything went just as you instructed, and Barnabas finished about thirty minutes ago. He said he would talk to you about the results tomorrow.”
“He would have told us if there was an urgent concern to handle.” Her eyes sparkled in amusement. “Well, then. I suppose all that’s left is for you to enjoy your evening. Was that your date just now?”
Jace did a double-take, then glanced toward the receiving hall. “Er, yes. It was. I may be getting the cold shoulder tonight.”
Anna raised her eyebrows. “I’m sure you won’t have any trouble finding someone to spend time with.”
Leaving Jace looking surprised and uncertain, Anna Elizabeth glided into the receiving hall, her smile gracious and welcoming while her eyes moved from one guest to the next. She still found it amusing that Phina’s solution had been to host an event designed for matchmaking as much as for celebration. While she hadn’t considered the thoroughness of the young woman’s solution before Phina brought it up, there was a certain elegance to it that pleased her.
It was, of course, one of the reasons she had endeavored to solicit solutions from the two trainees. It was all very well for Greyson to train Phina in his strengths, but Anna hoped to make sure the two most important positions in the Diplomatic Corp were filled with the best, most highly trained persons.
As the dean and the founding member of the Corps, she couldn’t bear to do otherwise. Anxiety and sorrow filled her heart. She sincerely hoped Phina would wake up soon and be all right. Moving forward was how she coped with troubled times, so she continued through the room.
> Her attention was captured by one of her senior diplomats gallantly flirting with the woman in front of him, possibly the person ADAM had matched him with. A brief glimpse of an artfully enhanced beautiful face caused her no surprise since Anna knew the man to value appearance more than the intelligence behind it.
As her gaze moved on, his smooth gallantry was in the minority. Anna couldn’t suppress her amusement at the sight of her well-spoken senior diplomats being bashful, tongue-tied, and perplexed by the additional guests at their celebration event. She stored those glimpses in her memory to savor later and turned to proceed to her next item to complete.
“I wondered how long I would need to wait to get a word with you.”
Anna Elizabeth turned in surprise, though nothing on her face betrayed her emotions. “Dan. I didn’t expect to see you tonight.”
Dan Bosse gave her a playful grin as he fingered a glass with bubbles, likely some form of champagne. “Am I too rough and tumble for your dignified event? Lady, you supply elegance and dignity to any event. There is no need to provide it myself when you are in the room.”
“Nonsense.” She narrowed her eyes as she examined his appearance and found no fault in the well-made suit that fit his large form. He stood taller than her even in heels and still had a military bearing that kept his posture straight and shoulders back. The small wrinkles in his face, the first signs of graying hair on his head, and the small beard on his square jaw were the only indications of a man just past his prime.
Dan winked at Anna Elizabeth, then turned to snag another glass like his from a tray as a waiter walked by. As he offered the glass to her, he casually commented, “Truth is never nonsense.”
Anna searched the man’s face and found what she had been looking for: sincerity and an artless openness. It was a refreshing change from her usual dance of intrigue and polite deception as the leader of the diplomats. As much as she loved her job, there were times she got so tired of pretense that she just wanted to chuck the whole lot in a bin and walk away. Perhaps she would once she got her trainee up to snuff.
